I've had a quick scout through Cindy's photos and, rather than post lots of similar pictures. I've taken a selection from the run
Surprisingly enough, we all turned up at Sterling services on time (even though Bing decided to bring the meet time forward).
As soon as we were there a gentle discussion broke out over Bing's routes - apparently Z4s aren't very good over cart tracks...
This went on for a while, the crowd got restless, and Swiftly started to wonder if there was time for a second breakfast before we left
Eventually the discussion on how we were going to get to Skye stopped and we got down to actually getting there…
As Ruth’s coupe was unable to make it, we had to settle for Ian’s mock coupe
Roads were wet and, at times, the spray meant that it was almost impossible to read the road signs... officer
The overcast weather led to some quite dramatic views of some of the lochs…
…and the hills (might have been a mountain but we couldn't see how high it was)
Then the roads dried out, tops came down, the fun started and the excuse about the spray went out the window
Thanks to Bing's insistence on an even earlier start, we got to Mallaig with lots (and lots) of time to spare…
…so we had lunch and then queued for the ferry hoping that the clouds were going the other way
Cars all got tightly packed on the ferry and, as we set off, there was a wonderful blaring of car alarms from people who forgot to turn them off - surprisingly this included Ian's car.
Very surprising really because, as we parked up, he gave Bing detailed instructions on how to disable the car alarm
Mallaig looked much more picturesque from sea
Wee Bing spent most of the crossing deep in thought, either wondering about a career in the Navy or doing that strange, teenage, ‘staring into space’ thing
Cindy flat out refused to do a Titanic pose as she was scared that it would tempt fate
Once on Skye we made tracks for Uig, unfortunately the first stretch was during the Skye equivalent of rush hour. We all got held up behind a little old lady in a hatchback,
there weren’t many passing places and she eventually pulled over to let the 5 mile tailback through but, before that happened, she was overtaken by a motorhome and a bus…
Just how slow do you have to be to be overtaken by a bus…?
The clouds seemed to get lower and lower and started to look quite menacing…
…but as we moved across Skye towards Uig patches of sunlight broke through
After pitching tents/checking into the B&B/Hotel, we retired to a local hostelry for something to eat, a wee dram and a discussion of the day...
…they kicked us out at about 10:30 as WB was too young to stay inside so we sat outside on the decking and got drunk....
When WB explained just how loud the snores were going to get, Oli and Vicky got worried that their tent was too close and wondered if they should have pitched in Dunvegan
Completely bereft of his iPhone, WB came out of his shell and tried his hardest to get into every photo that was taken....
At one point he thought that he'd pulled but the girls declined his offer a night in ‘The Beer Tent’ after realising that they’d also be sharing the tent with the Scots Snoring Machine...
By 1am Bing was very ‘tired’ but managed to stay on his feet, with a little assistance from Cindy and Vicky
The following morning was bright and sunny and perfect for a bit of a hoon
Clouds came and went but we managed to keep the convoy together and the roof down
The view as you come over Skye Bridge is just amazing, you go up one side seeing nothing but tarmac then as you go over the crest it just opens out
The road surface was extremely variable in quality and this could make some of the fast sweeping bends quite 'interesting'
Eilean Donan castle was wonderful - so nice to get to see something that appears so often on TV or in films only to find that it's even better in real life
If Carlsberg made roads...
For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move.
R L Stevenson
Wonderful weekend, thanks to everyone for making it so memorable...